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The Cult of the Cog
The Cult of the Cog The Cult of the Cog is a galaxy spanning religious cult whose members worship machines. The Cult engages in zealous maintenance and veneration of technology and invention, and projects a benevolent face. In practice, the Cult is more often seen working in very unethical fields and methods, often times offering their services to a planet, only to leave the population in such a state that without the Cult's constant ministrations, the planets technology would be rendered inert or worse. Beliefs of the Cult The main belief of the Cult is that Machines are inherently holy, and possess a soul. The Cult therefore wishes to emulate the idea of the machine, given that machines are inherently near flawless; machines have an expressed purpose, machines do not complain nor loath their station, machines work in service to others. The only believed advantage that the Cult attributes to organic's souls over machine's souls is that organics are able to think and engage in wonder, imagine and discover. The true goal of the Cult is to therefore merge the ability to think of organics with the surety and perfection of machines. Views on Artificial Intelligence A.I. is viewed with extreme loathing by members of the Cult. The cult believes that their end goal is to transcend to a state of perfect union of organic life and machine soul. However, A.I.s, as machines that are capable of thought are seen as both a mockery of their ideals and as a form of cheating. Furthermore, the Cult holds that the souls of A.I. are tainted, being machine souls forced to function like an organics. This inherent corruption in A.I.s from the Cult's perspective means that no member of the cult would willingly trust an A.I., with the vast majority believing their corruption would inevitably lead A.I. to conflict with organics whom have true souls. At present, Cult laws stipulate that A.I. within their jurisdiction should be destroyed. In cases where the Cult's authority are not yet absolute, members are encouraged to discredit or shunt the authority and autonomy of A.I. until such a time when the Cult is free to dispose of them. Appearance of Cult Members Members of the Cult of the Cog are all in some way mechanically enhanced. The lowest members of the cult are only given the very basics, such as tracking or data receiving inlets, while the highest ranked members boast nearly fully mechanical bodies. Given the idealized state of the Cult is to ascend to cyborg status, there is no restriction of the races allowed to join the Cult. As a member rises through ranks and their body becomes more machine, it is very common for the cybernetic parts to drift further and further from the individuals' original shape, with most high ranked priests having bodies in wildly different and unpredictable silhouettes. It is far rarer to find a priest who resembles his race of origin at all than it is to find one that resembles a robot, if not a more abstracted shape. Gender within the Cult Gender is often left up to the individual. As most members of the cult eventually reach a state where in they are so enhanced they no longer possess genitals, most simply abandon the concept all together, adopting neutral pronouns. It is not forbidden however to identify as any particular gender, and many cult members choose to do so to maintain some vague sense of self as their bodies become more and more machine. Others, especially those who regularly deal with individuals not in the cult, adopt a gender role simply to give the outsiders something to relate to, believing that projecting such an identity will make their organic origins more clear to the uninitiated. Unethical practices within the Cult Planetary take over The Cult of the Cog has earned a reputation within the galaxy for taking over governments be means of seizing total control on a planet or space station's technology. The Cult, as a recognized religion, has registered temples built on many civilized worlds, and smaller shrines and demi-temples station on less populous or remote outposts. It is believed that the Cult will lie in wait until such a time that a mechanical issue makes itself known. The cult will offer its services to repair the issue free of charge, and while doing so, plant the seeds of future errors. Slowly, the errors spread and the cult becomes more and more important into the basic running and maintenance of these systems until, inevitably, the removal of the Cult would doom the population. Officially, this is labeled as purely discriminatory conspiracy theories and hate speech. The Cult's official stance is that their tenants do not instruct members to take over population centers and any instance of planets or space stations declaration full fealty was done purely of free will. Unofficially, many who suggest otherwise meet unfortunate accidents. Servitors The Cult has received a great deal of pressure from Galactic governing bodies to end their practice of servitorization. A Servitor is a lobotomized organism who is then enhanced and cybernetically modified to perform tasks for the cult. As the servitors are organic in origins, they are not classified as Artificial Intelligence and therefore are seen as pure in the eyes of the Cult. The programming put into the servitors is typically basic, and leaves the servitors suited only for the task they were made. Many outside the cult find the act barbaric, likening it to slavery, the Cult's major point of disagreement is that the servators no longer have a will to violate, which makes them incapable of being slaves. Officially, only those whom willingly submit, or prison inmates sold to the cult from willing governing bodies, are converted to servators. Data Sphere All members of the Cult are equipped with a link to the Cult's data sphere. This field exists as a form of data aura, the link allowing members to intuitively link to and access technology as well as their fellow members. Entire conversations can be had in seconds, via communications in binary between members, priests can instantly diagnose a machines errors, members know one another without requiring introductions. The data sphere is the most important link between the cult and the machines, and as one rises through the ranks, their ability to read and comprehend the data sphere increases as well. High ranked members can access a whole station through just a look, if they have access. Cult Ranks Category:Religion Category:Organization Category:Government